Amendments Made to Township Budget

Township councilmen unanimously approved a resolution to amend the 2011 municipal budget Monday. Four changes are being made.

Township Auditor Gary Vinci explained that the original budget overestimated revenue coming from an agreement with Emerson and Rochelle Park for joint health services. The budget had estimated $117,000 in revenue, but the contract is actually $94,000, Vinci said.

Since the revenues decreased by $23,000, Vinci explained that the council would have to approve increases in other areas of revenue so the tax rate wasn't affected.

The resolution called for a $13,000 increase to fees and permits, bringing the total to $163,000. In 2010, the township budgeted $152,000 for licenses, fees and permits and actually took in $197,924.

The measure also included a $10,000 increase to the uniform construction code revenue line item, totaling $135,000. The council budgeted $105,000 for uniform construction code fees in 2010 and the township actually received $152,759.

Township resident Bob Bruno asked the governing body why there was a descrepency between the budgeted number and the amount received in 2010. He wanted to know why the revenue columns weren't higher in the proposed 2011 budget.

Mayor Janet Sobkowicz explained that the revenue line items are estimates and that officials make conservative decisions. "If we get more, that's great," she said, adding that if less money comes in than budgeted, it causes problems.

The last amendment in the resolution moves money from one area to another. "On the appropriations side, there was an amount of money budgeted for police dispatching originally budgeted as other expense account," Vinci said. "That needs to be moved to salary."

Township resident Kevin Dugan asked the governing body to provide a narrative with the budget as has been done in the past to make it easier for citizens to understand the main points.

Council President Fred Goetz said the governing body was doing its best to keep taxes down for residents. "We did go through it [the budget] with a fine tooth comb. We did the best we could to maintain our services for our residents," he said. "I think we did a pretty good job this year. We're pretty close to a zero increase, which is always my goal."

The $12.5 million spending plan, which was , would raise taxes for the average homeowner by $32 for the year.

Dugan also asked if council members were using too much surplus to lower taxes now, which could cause problems in the future. The proposed budget uses $1.1 million in surplus.

"We took a little bit, but we were assured that we have a lot of the revenues coming back and we're not putting ourselves in future financial jeopardy by taking what we could," Goetz said. "It is a balancing act every year and we do struggle with it."

The public hearing on the municipal budget amendments is scheduled to take place during the June 13 council meeting.